Autonomous vehicle energy consumption could affect range and charging, FleetCheck warns Neil Avent said: “We’re at the very beginning of fleet adoption of AVs and information about their operational capabilities is extremely limited." Autonomous vehicles could require significantly more energy than conventional EVs, potentially affecting range and charging requirements, according to FleetCheck. A paper published in Nature included modelling showing that prototype robotaxis used around 57% of their total power consumption for propulsion. The remainder was used for onboard sensing and computing, communications, fleet management and offboard infrastructure including video storage and model retraining. Neil Avent, chief technology officer at FleetCheck, said: “Reduced range and the necessity to schedule more frequent charging are key operational considerations. “They could even be the difference between choosing to use an EV and staying with a conventional vehicle.” While the research focused on robotaxis, Avent said the findings could have wider implications as autonomous technology develops. He said: “Robotaxis are the current apex of AV capabilities and use a range of power-hungry equipment but the technology is starting to be seen on a wider range of cars and there has been very little conversation about its impact on energy use. “While there is not much evidence company cars or vans running Tesla Autopilot-style systems have dramatically higher power demands, it seems reasonable to assume that as they become more sophisticated, they will need more power and perhaps greater attention should be given to measuring this factor.